MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro angered by Milei's calls to sanction Venezuela

The Venezuelan president argued that his Argentine colleague represented Zionism and fascism

President Nicolás Maduro Thursday criticized his Argentine counterpart for promoting sanctions against Venezuela. The Bolivarian successor of Hugo Chaves Frías stressed that with Milei came “fascism” and “Zionism, which is the new fascism.”

“Now Milei speaks that he is going to lead a crusade for Venezuela to be sanctioned, to be surrounded, and to be beaten. I tell him from Caracas, from the neighborhoods of Caracas, I tell Milei, you and how many others, Milei look at yourself in the mirror of Bolsonaro, look at yourself in the mirror of Macri, whoever messes with Venezuela, dries up,” Maduro warned during his weekly broadcast show.

Together with his wife Cilia Flores and Carabobo State Governor, Maduro also spoke about the late Argentine football star Diego Armando Maradona.

”I have a thesis about Maradona's death, I have said it before. I believe that Maradona was killed (...) I talked to him on his birthday, days before he died, and I told him 'Diego, come to Venezuela, we take care of you here; I am worried about you because I had already told him personally in January: 'Take care of yourself, Diego,'“ Maduro went on.

”There are very bad people, fascists, and they know that you are the voice of the rebellion of the people, the one who says what nobody dares to say in Argentina and in the world,“ Maduro went on.

”I believe that it was an operation to finish with the symbols of rebellious Argentina, deep Argentina, and first they finished off Diego, I am certain of that,“ he added.

”And then they wanted to finish off [former President] Cristina [Fernández de Kirchner]live and on television, they were going to kill her,“ Maduro elaborated.

”By finishing off Diego and Cristina, Argentina would be left without any deep, impacting voices. I believe in that plan for fascism to arrive,“ the Bolivarian leader stressed. He also noted that he was confident that the truth eventually will come to light.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's Foreign Ministry Thursday rejected Guyana's disapproval of the Law for the Defense of the Essequibo. Caracas ”fully and forcefully“ rejected Guyana's statement on the Organic Law for the Defense of Guyana Esequiba, approved by the Venezuelan Legislative and Judicial Branches on Wednesday. ”The approval of the aforementioned law is a sovereign act, which is the sole responsibility of Venezuelans and its objective is to defend and preserve the unquestionable rights of Venezuela over the territory of Esequiba Guyana under the aegis of international law,“ the Ministry said in a statement.

For the Venezuelan Government, ”the only valid instrument to solve in an amicable, practical and satisfactory manner the territorial controversy“ is the Geneva Agreement of 1966.

Guyana's Foreign Ministry published Thursday a communiqué dated April 3 in which it assured that Venezuela's territorial claim was an attempt to annex more than two-thirds of Guyanese land in ”a flagrant violation of the most fundamental principles of international law.“

Caracas then replied that Venezuela would continue to be ”a guarantor of peace and good international coexistence and will resort to all available means, within the framework of diplomacy and international law” to safeguard its interests.